The existence of the digital divide in African indigenous communities in accessing digital African Indigenous Games: a case study of Ga-Mamabolo oin Limpopo Province, South Africa

African indigenous games are one of the valued cultural aspects in African indigenous communities. These games have always been part of the African indigenous people and resemble the African culture and provide benefits such as entertainment and social development. Cultures and societies are dynamic; therefore, African indigenous societies are currently witnessing life under digitisation. The adoption of digitisation in African indigenous communities has become inevitable, and this has been seen as an opportunity to preserve games. Even though the adoption of digitisation to preserve the African indigenous games appears to be efficient, there are challenges associated with it, such as the unequal access of the digital games, which is referred to as the digital divide. Therefore, this study aimed to find out how existence of the digital divide in Ga-Mamabolo affects access to digital African indigenous games. The study was underpinned by the Diffusion of innovations, Critical posthumanism, and Sankofa theories. This study adopted qualitative participatory action research framed by interpretivism and indigenous research paradigms. The data was co-generated with 8 co-researchers who were children, youth, indigenous knowledge holders, and digitisation experts from Ga-Mamabolo. The data was generated through three stages of participatory action, planning, action, and reflections through focused group discussions. The study showed that affordability, internet access, and programming language for games are triggers of the digital divide within the indigenous communities of Ga-Mamabolo. Furthermore, to effectively digitise the indigenous games and eradicate the digital divide, the study showed that knowledge transfer, methodological, and information sharing may need to be revised with the indigenous people involved in the process.

Author dc:creator

• Maimela, Glen

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Madima, T. J.
• Makhanikhe, T. J.

• African Indigenous Games
• Indigeneous people
• Digitisation
• Participation
• Digital Divide
• Participatory Action Research

Statement dc:rights

• University of Venda

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

http://univendspace.univen.ac.za/handle/123456789/2729

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:univendspace.univen.ac.za:123456789/2729